V-Day Blog Archive

Eve to Participate in PEN American Center Special Evening of Readings: STATE OF EMERGENCY: Unconventional Readings

With: Laurie Anderson, Paul Auster, Russell Banks, Michael Cunningham, Don DeLillo, Joan Didion, Ariel Dorfman, Eve Ensler, Jonathan Safran Foer, Barbara Goldsmith, A. M. Homes, A. E. Hotchner, Margo Jefferson, Edward P. Jones, Walter Dean Myers, Salman Rushdie, Monique Truong, Kurt Vonnegut & others.

Wednesday August 4, 2004, 7:00 p.m.
The Great Hall at Cooper Union
7 East 7th Street at Third Avenue

FREE ADMISSION
Doors open at 6:30 p.m.
For information call PEN at (212) 334-1660, ext. 107 or visit www.pen.org

On Wednesday, August 4, between the two major party conventions, PEN American Center presents a special evening of readings in support of free expression and America’s core freedoms. A distinguished lineup of writers – including Laurie Anderson, Paul Auster, Russell Banks, Michael Cunningham, Don DeLillo, Joan Didion, Ariel Dorfman, Eve Ensler, Jonathan Safran Foer, Barbara Goldsmith, A. M. Homes, A. E. Hotchner, Margo Jefferson, Edward P. Jones, Walter Dean Myers, Salman Rushdie, Monique Truong, Kurt Vonnegut, and others – will come together to read and raise awareness about grave threats to essential freedoms in the United States.

We hope you will be there to support free expression. Help us spread the word and encourage friends and associates to attend this important evening. Please forward this announcement on to relevant email lists and circulate as widely as possible.

This event is free and open to the public. Seating is by general admission and on a first-come, first-served basis. Doors will open at 6:30 p.m. Please call PEN at 212/334-1660, ext. 107 for more information.

This program is co-sponsored by Cooper Union.

Original Song “Because You Are Beautiful” from the V-Day Documentary “Until the Violence Stops” Nominated for an Emmy Award

DOCUMENTARY BROADCAST ON LIFETIME TELEVISION

New York, NY – “Because You Are Beautiful,” music and lyrics by Toni Childs, from the V-Day Documentary, “Until The Violence Stops,” has been nominated for an Emmy® in the Outstanding Music And Lyrics category. The 56th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards presentation will be televised by the ABC Television Network on Sunday, September 19, from the Los Angeles Shrine Auditorium.

“Until The Violence Stops” world premiered at the 2004 Sundance Film Festival in January and broadcast premiered on Lifetime Television on February 17.

“Because You Are Beautiful” is an original song composed by three-time Grammy-nominated singer/songwriter Toni Childs. Ensler and Childs met in early 2003 at V-Day Kauai. Ensler was already a big fan of Toni’s – the impact of Childs’ music on her life has been profound and a lifeline. By night’s end, Ensler found herself asking Toni to write an anthem for “Until The Violence Stops.” “Because You Are Beautiful” is the result.

In 2002, eight hundred cities participated in a movement to end violence against women and girls called V-Day, which grew out of Eve Ensler’s award-winning play, “The Vagina Monologues.” “Until the Violence Stops” follows the uplifting/empowering impact of V-Day in five international communities, while exposing the pervasive and cultural forms of violence that women experience all over the world.

Directed by first-time director Abby Epstein, the documentary features appearances by Founder/Playwright Eve Ensler, Jane Fonda, Glenn Close, Isabella Rossellini, Mary Alice, Queen Latifah, Rosie Perez, LisaGay Hamilton, Salma Hayek, Rosario Dawson, Hazelle Goodman, and Tantoo Cardinal.

The 56th Annual Primetime Emmy Nominations In The Outstanding Music And Lyrics Category Are:

Until The Violence Stops (Song: Because You Are
Beautiful) • Lifetime Television • V-Day Productions for Lifetime Television in association with Iron Films
Toni Childs, Music & Lyrics by
David Ricketts, Music by
Eddie Free, Music by

The Fairly OddParents • Abracatastrophe (Song: Wish
Come True!) • Nickelodeon • Nickelodeon Animation
Studio
Guy Moon, Music by
Butch Hartman, Lyrics by
Steve Marmel, Lyrics by

Futurama • The Devil’s Hands Are Idle Playthings (Song: I
Want My Hands Back) • FOX • Curiosity Company in
association with 20th Century Fox Television
Ken Keeler, Music and Lyrics

Sesame Street Presents “The Street We Live On”
(Song: The Street I Live On) PBS Sesame Workshop
Mike Renzi, Composer
Lou Berger, Lyricist

The Simpsons • The President Wore Pearls (Song: Vote for a Winner) • FOX • Gracie Films in association with
20th Century Fox Television
Alf Clausen, Music by
Dana Gould, Lyrics by

V-Day Manila Organizers to Produce “TVM” in Tokyo

Tokyo Business Wire

Tokyo Braces Itself for ‘The Vagina Monologues’ by Eve Ensler, the Controversial International Hit Play

This early it is creating controversy as various groups question the use of the word ‘vagina’ and its Japanese translation in a theatre play in Tokyo.

This early it is creating controversy as various groups question the use of the word ‘vagina’ and its Japanese translation in a theatre play in Tokyo.

New Voice Company (NVC) announces the Japan Premier of Eve Ensler’s ‘The Vagina Monologues’ (TVM) in Japanese: June 23 – July 3, 2004 at Theatre V Akasaka, Tokyo, Japan. TVM Premier is directed by NVC Artistic Director Monique Wilson, Translation by Keiko Itoh. The Japan Premier will feature Japanese actresses: Koko Furuta, Kaori Okamoto and Chizuru Onoyama.

TVM is precisely what its name suggests – a series of stories, in which women talk about the most secret part of their bodies. But it’s a great deal more. Using intelligence, integrity and comparison, Eve Ensler has created not just one of the best shows in the world today (it has premiered in over 40 countries and been translated in over 25 languages) but the most morally serious. In TVM, Eve has given voice to a chorus of lusty, outrageous, poignant, brave, highly original and thoroughly human stories. Based on interviews with a diverse group of women – the play brazenly explores the humor, power, pain, wisdom, outrage, mystery and excitement hidden in vaginas. TVM is alternately hilarious and deeply moving. Covering issues from sexual abuse, first lesbian experiences, indignities of pelvic exams, women’s dreams and desires, orgasms, sex, marriage, infidelity, childbirth and womanhood, the play deftly combines drama and comedy.

V-Day Launches “V Is for Vote” Campaign

Two Centerpiece Events Announced:
“Vaginas Vote, Chicks Rock” September 13 At NYC’s Apollo Theater Featuring Eve Ensler, Jane Fonda, Rha Goddess, Julia Stiles, and more…

“Women And Power III: Our Time To Lead” Conference, September 11-13, at NYC’s Sheraton New York Hotel Featuring Eve Ensler, Jane Fonda, Gloria Steinem, Pat Mitchell, Carole Black, Iyanla Vanzant, Marie Wilson and more…

Hundreds gather in New York to encourage voting and make stopping violence against women a key campaign issue

V-Day 2004 “Celebrating Vagina Warriors” Is the Movement’s Biggest Year in Its Seven-Year History

Over 5000 V-Day Events in 76 Countries Since Inception in 1998

June 07, 2004 – Today, V-Day announced that its 2004 season (January –March 2004) was the global movement’s biggest awareness and fundraising year to date with over $5 million dollars raised. The theme for the 2004 season “Celebrating Vagina Warriors” was reflected throughout the high profile series of V-Day benefits, events and campaigns. Key 2004 highlights included the first documentary about the movement “Until The Violence Stops;” the V-Day and Amnesty International March on Juarez, Mexico to honor the over 300 missing and murdered women and to support the families and groups working for justice; the two-week intensive V-Day 2004 Visit to India: Celebrating the Indian Woman Warrior featuring events in Mumbai, Himachal, and Delhi; and over 2,300 V-Day 2004 benefit productions of “The Vagina Monologues” in February and March in 1,100 communities and colleges worldwide benefiting local community anti-violence programs.

In mounting its annual campaigns, V-Day draws inspiration from the thousands of Vagina Warriors – volunteers, activists, sponsors, media, and supporters – who work worldwide to end violence against women and girls in their communities. Each V-Day event helps a woman tell her story, inspires others to give, engages the local media, enables women to expand their networks, and encourages entire communities to act together to end violence against women.

Highlights of V-Day 2004 “Celebrating Vagina Warriors”
“UNTIL THE VIOLENCE STOPS”
Directed by first time director Abby Epstein, UNTIL THE VIOLENCE STOPS documents how “The Vagina Monologues” grew into an international grassroots movement called V-Day to stop violence against women and girls. In 2002, eight hundred cities around the world participated in V-Day by staging benefit performances of The Vagina Monologues. UNTIL THE VIOLENCE STOPS shows women from locations as diverse as Harlem, Ukiah, California, the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, the Philippines, and Kenya, uniting and courageously revealing their intimate and deeply painful experiences with abuse ranging from rape to female circumcision. In emotionally charged interviews and performances, everyday and celebrity women such as Rosie Perez, Salma Hayek, Tattoo Cardinal, Jane Fonda, and LisaGay Hamilton embrace their bodies, reconcile their pasts, and bond together to break the silence that surrounds abuse. More than just testimonies and performances, UNTIL THE VIOLENCE STOPS is a film about empowerment and the importance of dialogue in the healing process. A celebration of women reclaiming their bodies

• The documentary world premiered at the Sundance Film Festival on January 17, with two additional screenings added due to popular demand. Vagina marketing became all the rage at Sundance with Vagina Warrior ski caps becoming the in demand item for Park City attendees.
• Six U.S. communities hosted benefit screenings to raise funds and awareness for local groups working to end violence against women and girls: Santa Fe, NM; San Francisco and Ukiah, CA; Miami (Film Festival); Atlanta, GA; White Plains, NY.
• The documentary premiered February 17, commercial free on Lifetime Television, with nearly 1 million viewers. Immediately after the east ast coast broadcast, Tampax hosted the first-ever live V-Day web-castfrom The University of Tulsa (OK), where thousands of women and men logged on to ask Eve and V-Day questions about the film and the movement.
• Media coverage of the documentary appeared in hundreds of national and local broadcast and print outlets including CNN, TODAY, NPR, PEOPLE, TV Guide, USATODAY.com and many more. V-Day supporters Jane Fonda and Glenn Close joined Eve for television, radio and print interviews and junkets. Early reports from our print monitoring service found over 400 articles from February 1-29, 2004 reaching over 50 million people.

SPOTLIGHT ON JUAREZ, INTERNATIONAL MARCH ON JUAREZ, MEXICO
Through the Mexico City production of “The Vagina Monologues,” direct support to Casa Amiga and other grassroots groups, and the efforts of thousands of activists, V-Day has been working throughout Mexico and internationallyto raise awareness about the missing and murdered women of Juarez. For V-Day 2004, Juarez was our Spotlight issue placing the issue in front of millions in the U.S. and internationally through the over 2000 V-Day benefits that took place in February – March. While there have been victories in terms of awareness and discussions, the struggle is not over as more bodies have recently been found and the murders remain unsolved.

“The City of Murdered Women,” V-Day Founder/Playwright Eve Ensler’s essay on the missing and murdered women of Ciudad Juarez, appeared in the March issue of Marie Claire magazine.

• Working closely with Amnesty International, V-Day placed stories on the issue in PEOPLE, the Los Angeles Times, CosmoGIRL and more.
• On February 13 the V-Day delegation – including Congresswomen Jan Schakowsky (IL) and Hilda Solis (CA), Jane Fonda, Sally Field, Christine Lahti, Lifetime Television CEO Carole Black, PBS CEO Pat Mitchell, Lifetime EVP Public Affairs Meredith Wagner – met with mothers whose daughters have been murdered or are missing; immediately following the American Consulate hosted a reception welcoming the V-Day community to Juarez to support our efforts to raise awareness and to end the violence against women in Juarez. The newly appointed special prosecutors met with Eve and members of the delegation to discuss changes and progress – or the lack of – in these cases
• On V-Day, February 14, over 7,000 people traveled to Juarez – thousands crossing the bridge from neighboring El Paso, TX – to stand up for the women of Juarez.
• Following the march, thousands gathered for a community luncheon in advance of the historic, first performance of “The Vagina Monologues” in Juarez by a bilingual cast included Lilia Aragon, Marinitia Escobedo, Laura Flores, Monica Alicia Juarez, Jane Fonda, Sally Field and Christine Lahti.
• The march and the performance garnered international media coverage, saturating the U.S., UK, Mexico and Latin America via CNN, Univision, Telemundo, local ABC, CBS, NBC stations, Agence France Presse, Associated Press, BBC, The Guardian, the Sunday Times and more.
• VICTORY! On March 8 V-Daywas notified by a local community organization in Juarez that as a result of the March on Juarez the Chihuahua State’s Attorney had resigned.

V-DAY INDIA 2004: CELEBRATING THE INDIAN WOMAN WARRIOR
Through V-Day Special Representative Hibaaq Osman’s leadership and vision, art and activism united to end violence against women in India. A V-Day delegation, along with star supporters Jane Fonda and Marisa Tomei, traveled to India March 8-20 to celebrate South Asian women’s activism.

• A gala benefit production of “The Vagina Monologues” was staged on International Women’s Day (March 8) in Mumbai. The Indian cast, along with Jane, Marisa and Eve wowed the standing room only audience.
• The V-Day delegation toured a SNEHA (Society for Nutrition, Education and Health Action) hospital/shelter in the largest slum in Mumbai. SNEHA was a beneficiary of the V-Day Mumbai event and is now a V-Day awardee.
• V-Day met with representatives of Citibank in Mumbai who are supporting the work of several groups working to end violence against women and girls followed by a 14-hour (one-way) bus journey to the state of Himachal, near Dharamsala (the Tibetan seat of government) to support Jagori, the host organization in Delhi, to celebrate the opening of their new learning center for women and girls. During the stay at the Norbulingka Institute (founded by the Dalai Lama with a mission is to preserve Tibetan culture) the group visited the Buddhist nunnery and lit 1001 candles as a blessing for the learning center and for peace and non-violence.
• In Delhi, V-Day, along with Jagori and SANGAT, hosted a three-day conference: “Confronting Violence: Recounting Resistance, Envisioning Justice.” The conference objective was to analyze how feminists have faced Violence Against Women, what connections have been made with other phenomena like communalism, fundamentalisms, globalization, privatization etc. A dynamic group of over 70 women from South Asian (including Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, Pakistan, China, Nepal, Bangladesh, and India) attended the conference. Eve performed a one-woman show of “The Vagina Monologues” for conference attendees and special guests that brought down the house.
• V-Day co-sponsored an evening of Women Artists for Justice, Harmony and Peace, a concert in an open-air venue. The voices of youth, the dancing of women, the strength of poetry and Eve’s powerful words were a beautiful, celebratory way to end V-Day India 2004.
• Indian print, radio and television media covered the trip two weeks in advance with multiple stories on the celebrities, the events, and the activist conference. Throughout the visit Indian media saturated the message of V-Day’s mission to end violence against women via interviews with Eve, Hibaaq Osman, Jane Fonda and Marisa Tomei.

(A full report from V-Day Special Representative, Hibaaq Osman, will be released this summer.)

2,300 V-DAY EVENTS IN 1,100 COMMUNITIES
Through V-Day campaigns, local volunteers and college students produced annual benefit performances of “The Vagina Monologues” to raise awareness and funds for anti-violence groups within their own communities. Since V-Day launched its very first event in 1998, the movement has encountered incredible women working to end violence against women and girls in their communities.

These women have often experienced violence personally or witnessed it within their communities and dedicated themselves toward ending such violence through effective, grassroots means. They have been the very heart of V-Day. This year, V-Day’s 2004 events and campaigns celebrated these women whom Eve has dubbed ‘Vagina Warriors.’ V-Day productions around the world selected and honored Vagina Warriors in its own community.

• Eve’s solo performance to a sold-out, SRO audience in Tulsa, OK benefited The Spirits of Hope: A Coalition Addressing Domestic Violence, Sexual Assault and Stalking in Oklahoma Indian Country. After Eve’s performance Jane Fonda performed “Emotional Creature,” a new piece written by Eve.
• The first-ever transgendered V-Day was staged in Los Angeles. It was a spectacular evening of celebration, performance and education about the horrific violence that transgendered women endure. A highlight of the evening was the performance of a new piece by Eve written specifically for the event, “He Beat the Girl Out of My Boy…Or So He Tried.”
• In March, models, actresses and politicians joined together to stage V-Day Nairobi, a performance of “The Vagina Monologues” benefiting the Rape Crisis Centre at the Nairobi Women’s Hospital in Nairobi and the V-Day Safe House, the first safe house in Kenya for girls running away from early marriages and female genital mutilation.

• In an event of corporate activism, V-Day LUNA (Luna Bar, a V-Day sponsor) united corporate employees and community members – including Tiffany Schlain of Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness – in two sold out benefit performances of “The Vagina Monologues” that raised close to $20,000 and celebrated vaginas in the boardroom.
• Eve supported Amnesty International’s London launch of a two year Stop Violence Against Women Campaign with AI Secretary General Irene Kahn and actor Patrick Stewart. The event received worldwide media coverage.
• V-Day Europe launched on February 14. With the support of the European Commission, national coordinators in the UK, France, Germany and Luxembourg have joined forces to promote V-Day in Europe,. Between 14 February and mid-March, V-Day performances of “The Vagina Monologues” took place in Trier, Saarbrücken, Frankfurt am Main, Bochum and Bremen, in Paris, Brest and other cities in France. To mark International Women’s Day, an international team in Esch-sur-Alzette in Luxembourg hosted a V-Festival throughout the month of March 2004 with a wide range of women’s art events, performances of “The Vagina Monologues” in French and German and culminating in a transnational, multilingual V-Day performance on 14 March 2004 that brought together all European partners in a celebration of the movement. On March 8 at London V-Day Westminster, the first ever performance of “The Vagina Monologues” by women politicians of all political parties, took place. MPs including Joan Ruddock, Caroline Spelman, Sandra Gidley and Oona King, as well as the Home Office minister Caroline Flint, performed alongside Jerry Hall, Meera Syal and Anita Roddick before a packed audience at the Criterion Theatre in London! In addition, there were over 70 local performances across the UK.
• Overall media coverage of local V-Day 2004 events continues to grown in campus and regional papers. Events receive major local coverage as well as placement in key papers such as The Boston Globe and Chicago Tribune and on local TV stations nationwide.

Also of note in 2004 are the V-Day events that did not happen – Bejing, China; Chennai, India; and on select Catholic college campuses. In Beijing, China, authorities shut down a production of ‘The Vagina Monologues” translated into Chinese. International media – including The New York Times – covered the banning reporting that the Chinese character for vagina is half anatomical and half vulgar. Despite a successful staging earlier in the week in Mumbia, in the southern Indian city of Chennai, a local police commissioner banned the V-Day India 2004 benefit production of “The Vagina Monologues” scheduled to include Jane Fonda and Marisa Tomei, claiming that the play posed a threat to public order. Indian media covered the story extensively as well as the performance and events in Mumbai and Delhi.

In the U.S., the Cardinal Newman Society continued its campaign against V-Day benefits at Catholic colleges. Several V-Day productions at Catholic Colleges and Universities moved to off campus locations. As in previous years, these negative efforts – which are the minority considering that 1100 communities staged successful V-Day benefits – generated considerable publicity about the play and the issue of violence against women in local and national media including USA Today.

As the 7th V-Day season comes to an end, V-Day thanks the thousands of women and men activists – the true vagina warriors worldwide – who brought V-Day into their communities, raising funds and awareness, and making sure that not another woman or girl will experience violence. Since V-Day’s first NYC benefit in 1998, the movement has expanded to 76 countries with V-Day events worldwide from Angola to China to Ethiopia to Israel to Yugoslavia to Zimbabwe. To date, over 5000 benefit productions of The Vagina Monologues have taken place, raising funds for local grassroots antiviolence groups and educating millions of people about the issue of violence against women and girls.

V-Day Salutes Its 2004 Corporate Sponsors, Launches Online Store

May 11, 2004 – New York, NY – V-Day, the global movement to end violence against women and girls, salutes its 2004 corporate sponsors – Barneys New York, Bobbi Brown, Dramatist Play Service, Eileen Fisher, Fairmont Hotels And Resorts, Hearst, Lifetime Television, Luna, Marie Claire, Tampax, Time Inc. and Vosges Haut Chocolate – for their generous contributions to V-Day and the ongoing efforts to end violence against women and girls. Thanks to their creative and financial contributions alongside the many inspired V-Day activists, V-Day 2004 was V-Day’s biggest season to date with over 2300 V-Day benefits taking place in over 1100 communities worldwide February – March 2004.

“V-Day’s corporate sponsors set the bar with their philanthropy. We are honored to work alongside corporate partners who are each leaders in their field and to benefit from their marketing saavy and ideas. Each helps expand our outreach and efforts to end violence against women and girls worldwide,” states V-Day Executive Director Jerri Lynn Fields.

Also today, V-Day announced the launch of its first online store – http://www.vday.org/store. Created in conjunction with Object, the V-Day store features a selection of merchandise with the V-Day logo and messaging including “Vagina Warrior” T-shirts and caps as well as links to products from corporate sponsors which benefit the movement.

In addition to financial contributions, each V-Day corporate sponsor works to advance V-Day’s mission to raise awareness and funds to end violence against women and girls. Following are some examples:

Barneys New York:

V-Day 2004 Recap from Executive Director Jerri Lynn Fields

Dear V-Supporters,

If our only achievement had been… the World premiere of the first V-Day Documentary “Until The Violence Stops” at the 2004 Sundance Film Festival and the Broadcast Premiere on Lifetime Television it would have been a successful year.

If our only achievement had been… the February 14, V-Day and Amnesty International March on Juarez, Mexico to honor the over 300 missing and murdered women and to support the families and grassroots human rights groups working for justice-over 7000 marched, international media transmitted the story of the women of Juarez around the world-it would have been a successful year.

If our only achievement had been… The two-week intensive V-Day 2004 Visit to India: Celebrating the Indian Woman Warrior which included events in Mumbai, Himachel, and Delhi and a series of gala benefit productions of “The Vagina Monologues;” a ground-breaking ceremony for a learning center for women in Northern India; and a conference of over seventy South Asian feminist leaders from Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, India, Pakistan, Afghanistan and more to Delhi to strategize methods to end violence against women and girls it would have been a successful year…

If our only achievement had been over 2,300 V-Day 2004 benefit productions of “The Vagina Monologues” in February and March in 1,100 communities and colleges worldwide and raising an estimated $5 million for local community anti-violence programs it would have been a successful year…

We had a SPECTACULAR year! We achieved all of this, in just three months.

We were able to do all of this because of you, our loyal supporters.

V-Day 2004: “Celebrating Vagina Warriors”

Each year, V-Day strives to raise awareness and funds to end violence against women and girls, and changing consciousness about the issue on an international scale.

In mounting our campaigns, we draw inspiration from the thousands of vagina warriors – volunteers, activists, sponsors, media, and supporters like you – who are working worldwide to end violence against women and girls in their communities recognizing that each V-Day event helps a woman tell her story, inspires others to give, engages the local media, enables women to expand their networks, and encourages entire communities to act together to end violence against women.

Each year we strive to expand awareness of the issue and to raise more funds.

In 2004, these efforts were extraordinary, surpassing our expectations and inspiring us to do more next year…

In looking back at V-Day 2004, we are so very deeply in awe of the achievements of these thousands of vagina warriors, who, along with our staff of ten, are responsible for V-Day’s biggest year of awareness and outreach and fundraising to date in the ongoing fight to end violence against women and girls in the U.S. and around the world.

Following are some of the key highlights that we accomplished together –

“UNTIL THE VIOLENCE STOPS”

Directed by first time director Abby Epstein, UNTIL THE VIOLENCE STOPS documents how “The Vagina Monologues” grew into an international grassroots movement called V-Day to stop violence against women and girls. In 2002, eight hundred cities around the world participated in V-Day by staging benefit performances of The Vagina Monologues. UNTIL THE VIOLENCE STOPS shows women from Harlem to Ukiah, California; from the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation to the Philippines and Kenya, uniting and courageously revealing their intimate and deeply painful experiences with abuse ranging from rape to female circumcision. In emotionally charged
interviews and performances, everyday women and celebrities like Rosie Perez, Salma Hayek, Tattoo Cardinal, Jane Fonda, and LisaGay Hamilton embrace their bodies, reconcile their pasts, and bond together to break the silence that surrounds abuse. More than just testimonies and performances, UNTIL THE VIOLENCE STOPS is a film about empowerment and the importance of dialogue in the healing process. A celebration of women reclaiming their bodies and lives, this moving documentary leaves us with hope that change can happen.

Studio Module Wins Horizon Interactive Award for Vday.org

Indianapolis, IN USA – March 31, 2004 – The Horizon Interactive Awards, a leading international interactive media awards competition, announced the 2004 award winners. The annual competition recognizes excellence in interactive media production among firms, individuals and in-house multi-media departments. Studio Module was recognized for their excellence in interactive media production with a Best of Category award for the Public Service web site for V-Day (www.vday.org). Says studio principal Claudio Luis Vera, “the studio’s team really enjoyed working with the V-Day folks, largely because they were quite willing to give us the creative freedom to produce some great work… it isn’t every day that we can build a site with the word ‘vagina’ in 300-point type.”

The 2004 competition received hundreds of entries from several countries including: The United States, Canada, Malaysia, Germany, Hong Kong and New Zealand. Entry categories included: Business to Business, Consumer Information, Entertainment, Flash, Public Service, Sales / E-commerce and Self Promotion. A panel of judges evaluated several multi-media formats including web sites, Flash, CD-Roms, DVDs and streaming media webcasts. The 2004 panel of judges consisted of various industry professionals with diverse backgrounds including marketing, art and creative direction, multi-media production, and technical development.

“The quality and diversity of the works evaluated in this year’s competition was outstanding. Developers are continuing to push the envelope with blending beautiful aesthetics with effective functionality,” said Mike Sauce, president of the Horizon Interactive Awards. “Past competitions have shown us that developers were willing to experiment with new technologies and new concepts. This year’s competition showed us that developers are now effectively utilizing those new technologies in conjunction with solid design principles to create effective and creative interactive media solutions with purpose. The 2004 entry field has definitely raised the bar for future competitions.”

The Horizon Interactive Awards holds the annual competition in early spring of each year for works that were created the previous calendar year. For more information visit the Horizon Interactive Awards at www.horizoninteractiveawards.com

About Studio Module:
Studio Module is a premier design firm with an award-winning portfolio of groundbreaking work in interactive media, corporate communications, and brand identity.

The studio’s approach combines leading-edge technologies with sophisticated design to create next-generation work that is years ahead of the present. The studio and its principals have been the recipients of many national and international awards for their experimental design.

The firm’s philosophy is to combine usability with cutting-edge design for well-defined business purposes. “At the studio, we feel that we are designers first and foremost, and that the medium is secondary”, says studio principal Alisha Haydn Vera.

The studio’s husband-and-wife management team – Alisha Haydn Vera and Claudio Luis Vera – were previously the principals of Black Bean Studios, a design boutique that pioneered in interactive media.

Update – Cardinal Newman Society Continues Its Efforts to Stop V-Day Activists

Since last year, Cardinal Newman Society has initiated a campaign against the V-Day benefit productions of “The Vagina Monologues” at Catholic Colleges and Universities.

In February and March 2004, the society directed their efforts against 30 such V-Day benefits calling the play “vulgar” and taking its out of context, specifically taking issue with the “Coochi Snorcher” monologue which recounts a real woman’s personal experience with violence and its aftermath.

Background on V-Day and the College campaign: V-Day is a global campaign that envisions and is working to create a world in which violence against women and girls no longer exists. V-Day hopes that the devastating and true stories that are the foundation of “The Vagina Monologues” will inspire people who see productions of the play to help V-Day in its efforts to stop all violence against women and girls.

Through the V-Day College Campaign, which launched in 1999, thousands of student organizers have raised funds for local groups on their campuses and within their communities. This year, students at over 700 colleges and universities will stage V-Day benefits of “The Vagina Monologues” to raise funds and awareness. The events take place on-campus and are primarily student-run, student-acted and student-directed.

To date, V-Day has raised over $20 million dollars for local community groups who do anti-violence work on the ground every day. Along the way, millions of people have been empowered and educated and have become active in the fight to end violence against women and girls.

According to its website, the Cardinal Newman society works to promote Catholic values at Catholic institutions of higher learning and to clarify the “mission within the Church” of these colleges and universities.

In response to news of efforts to ban these benefit productions, many community members offered off-site space to support the V-Day organizers who were being censored. Indeed, attempts to ban the productions often created a constructive public and media debate within the community about free speech, the problem of violence against women and the need to address it, and also raised questions about the true goals of the Cardinal Newman Society, which attempted to stop students from doing good works and pressured university administrators and their alumni toward censorship.

The group protest against “The Vagina Monologues” came to a head this year with a full-page, misleading and inflammatory advertisement last week in some regional editions of USA Today.

Due to this increased activity by the society and the many emails of support we’ve received, V-Day felt it was important to update and provide this background on the situation. It is important to note that Cardinal Newman Society has not reached out to V-Day to voice their concerns or to discuss how together we can end violence against women and girls—an issue we think would be of great concern to the church considering the epidemic violence within the church itself and recently documented. While the Cardinal Newman Society has publicly and aggressively agitated against V-Day organizers on Catholic campuses and in the media, V-Day has chosen to simply provide this update so that our supporters and organizers are informed.

Following is a list of action steps for your consideration:

• Write a letter to theforum@usatoday.com for publication to USA Today in response to this inflammatory advertisement (theforum@usatoday.com)
• Write a letter in support of V-Day to the Cardinal Newman Sociey:erin@cardinalnewmansociety.org
• Write to the Presidents of the Catholic Colleges that the Cardinal Newman Society is pressuring to shut down their student benefit productions of “The Vagina Monologues.” You may want to ask them how you can make a donation to this year’s and upcoming V-Day events on the campus.

University of Notre Dame
Rev. Edward A. Malloy, C.S.C.
malloy.5@nd.edu

Georgetown University
Dr. John DeGioia
president@georgetown.edu

Loyola University of Chicago
Rev. Michael J. Garanzini, S.J.
mgaranz@luc.edu

Boston College
Rev.William Leahy, S.J.
William.leahy.1@bc.edu

College of the Holy Cross
Rev. Michael McFarland, S.J.
mmcfarla@holycross.edu

DePaul University
Rev. John P. Minogue, C.M.
jminogue@depaul.edu

Loyola College of Maryland
Rev. Harold Ridley, S.J.
vweller@loyola.edu

College of St. Rose
Mark R. Sullivan
sullivam@strose.edu

Dominican University
Donna M. Carroll
dompres@dom.edu

Fordham University
Joseph M. McShane, S.J.
president@fordman.edu

John Carroll University
Rev. Edward Glynn, S.J.
eglynn@jcu.edu

Loyola Marymount University
Robert B. Lawton, S.J.
rlawton@lmu.edu

Marymount Manhattan College
Judson R. Shaver, PhD
jshaver@mmm.edu

Nazareth College
Robert A. Miller, Ph.D.
ramiller@naz.edu

Providence College
Rev. Phillip A. Smith, O.P., Ph.D.
emyers@providence.edu

Regis College
Mary Jane England, M. D.
england@regiscollege.edu

St. John Fisher College
Katherine E. Keough
kkeough@sjfc.edu

St. Joseph College
President Winifred E. Coleman
info@sjc.edu

St. Louis University
Lawrence Biondi, S.J.
biondi@slu.edu

Seattle University
Fr. Stephen V. Sundborg, S.J.
sundborg@seattleu.edu

Stonehill College
Rev. Mark T. Cregan, C.S.C.
presidentcregan@stonehill.edu.

University of Dayton
Daniel J. Curran, Ph.D.
info@udayton.edu

University of San Francisco (CA)
Stephen A. Privett, S.J.
president@usfca.edu

In addition to these letters, you can also make a donation to V-Day in the name of the Cardinal Newman Society. Visit http://www.vday.org/donate .

Following are some recent news reports on the Cardina Newman Society’s campaign against V-Day and student efforts to end violence against women:

USA TODAY
http://www.usatoday.com/life/theater/2004-03-01-monologues-usat_x.htm

The Chronicle of Higher Education
http://chronicle.com/temp/reprint.php?id=ld8qmue73ibjn9ymmwh4q66alqbmxpxi

V-Day Europe Announced

Contact: Sian Morgan (europe@vdayuk.org), Tel: +442079684825

16 February 2004, London, UK: V-Day, the global movement to end violence against women and girls, has launched V-Day Europe on 14 February (Valentine’s Day) 2004. It is the European branch of the global movement working to raise awareness and funds to end violence against women worldwide that was inspired by its founder and playwright Eve Ensler’s play ”The Vagina Monologues”.

V-Day Europe’s website www.vdayeurope.org provides information in English, French and German and invites groups all over Europe to join the movement. National coordinators in the UK, France, Germany and Luxembourg have joined forces to promote V-Day in Europe, with the support of the European Commission.

„The EC’s support is very important for the movement. It will not only help us to support European local groups and volunteers, but will also enable us to learn from each other and to develop transnational partnerships.” says V-Day Europe representative Karin Heisecke. Eve Ensler, playwright and founder of the V-Day movement, adds: “We are thrilled that the women of Europe are coming together as one. We applaud the European Commission on joining V-Day in our efforts to end violence against women and to create a united front.”

V-Day stages benefit performances, organizes innovative and creative events, films and programmes to raise funds, educate and change social attitudes towards violence against women. Through V-Day, local volunteers and university students produce benefit performances of Ensler’s play „The Vagina Monologues” to raise awareness and funds for anti-violence groups within their own communities and to revitalize the spirit of these organisations. V-Day events are celebrations of the female body as a thing of beauty, not to be violated. V-Day Europe brings together experienced and dedicated theatre practitioners with women’s rights activists. V-Day Veterans Tamsin Larby of V-Day UK and Marie Cecile Renauld of V-Day France are joined by Serge Basso de March in Luxembourg and Alrun Schleiff in Germany, as well as the acclaimed European expert on violence against women, Prof. Liz Kelly. Together they will work to support local organisers, to mobilise political and public support in the participating countries and at the broader European level, and develop a sustainable and expanding multidisciplinary network in Europe to end violence against women and girls.

„The Vagina Monologues” has been translated into over 25 languages and has been performed in over 41 countries. In 2003, over 1,000 V-Day benefit events were presented around the world, educating millions of people about the reality of violence against women and girls. It its six years, the V-Day movement has raised over 20 million US$. In Europe, V-Day is the strongest in the UK, where there have been over 50 events in the past years, whereas it has not been known to the same extent in Germany, France and Luxembourg. This is set to change now. Between 14 February and mid-March, V-Day performances of “The Vagina Monologues” will take place in Trier, Saarbrücken, Frankfurt am Main, Bochum and Bremen, in Paris, Brest and other cities in France. To mark International Women’s Day, an international team in Esch-sur-Alzette in Luxembourg will host a V-Festival throughout the month of March 2004 with a wide range of women’s art events, performances of “The Vagina Monologues” in French and German and culminating in a transnational, multilingual V-Day performance on 14 March 2004 that brings together all European partners in a celebration of the movement. London will see on the 8th of March V-Day Westminster, the first ever performance of “The Vagina Monologues” by women politicians of all political parties, and there will be over 70 local performances across the UK.

In 2004, V-Day puts the spotlight on the missing and murdered women of Juarez, Mexico. On Valentine’s Day, the movement led, together with Amnesty International and many other organizations, a global march on Juarez to denounce the unacceptable situation.

The V in V-Day stands for Victory, Valentine and Vagina.

www.vdayeurope.org